50 up: Portsmouth boss Mousinho on exceeding expectations, adversity and bettering Redknapp, Ball & Campbell

Just one other Pompey boss has enjoyed a better start to life at Fratton Park in the post-war era.

It has been quite the introduction to managerial life for John Mousinho, who toasted his 50th match in charge of the Blues on Saturday - inevitably with a victory.

Since his surprise appointment as head coach in January, he has rattled off 27 wins, 16 draws and seven losses in all competitions, with Pompey presently League One leaders.

By his own admission, the 37-year-old’s performance - and progress of the team he oversees - has exceeded expectations.

Nonetheless, only George Smith has achieved a more profitable opening 50 matches following his April 1961 arrival from Sheffield United.

As ever, though, Mousinho remains modest about his remarkable impact.

He told The News: ‘I would say it has probably slightly exceeded expectations at this stage.

‘At the start, if you had told me we’d be in this position, I would say it’s a possibility, not beyond the realms of what we could actually expect.

‘However, we have performed a bit better than perhaps we expected at this stage.

‘We wanted to make sure we stayed within touching distance of the top six. If you had spoken to anybody prior to this season, we obviously wanted to give ourselves a chance towards the back end of the year to be in with a chance of promotion - and we’ve gone a bit beyond that.

‘That brings a bit of pressure, a bit of expectation, but we quite enjoy it. That's something we want to have, it’s much better being in this position than any other at this stage of the season.

‘We have set a really good standard for ourselves, but we still have more than half the season to go and that’s, ultimately, what we’re going to be judged on. We won’t be judged on a record after 50 games, it will be on my record after 75-80 games.

‘That’s the acid test, seeing where we are at the end of the season - and then sit down and reflect on it. The most important thing is trying to win games.

‘Manager stats are nice things to have, but don't actually get you anything. That long unbeaten run was a lovely thing to have, but when it ended we had dropped from first to second in the league after all that hard work.

‘The stats are there, people always talk about them, but, internally, the only one we care about is whether we win games or not.’

As Pompey manager, Smith registered 30 wins and eight defeats in his opening 50 matches in charge.

Initially he was unable to prevent relegation to Division Three after arriving with five matches remaining, but the following season (1961-62) led the Blues to the title.

Over the subsequent 61 years, only Frank Burrows, Bobby Campbell, Alan Ball, Harry Redknapp and Paul Cook have won Pompey promotion.

Mousinho added: ‘Obviously this season has gone relatively well, but it was tough at times towards the back end of last year in particular.

‘The lows I can really pinpoint. We went into the Easter period with a chance of getting into the play-offs and drew four games on the bounce - MK Dons, Morecambe, Shrewsbury and Oxford.

‘There were a couple of games, particularly at home after that, where the fans were really frustrated because they knew it was going to be a seventh season in League One.

‘The playing style wasn’t the best, we weren’t creating too many chances, we weren’t scoring enough goals, it was 0-0 against Morecambe.

‘The contrast to this year, if we had won 1-0 at home then the fans would have seen that at least we’re creating, trying to go forward with a bit of purpose, there’s a real difference.

‘Last year the performances were probably a bit lukewarm, which might be a bit generous. Apart from Blackpool and Chesterfield this year, it has been really positive.’